Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund

The Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund supports museums and their community partners to improve inclusion and equitable working with community partners.

The fund offers:

• Core grants to museums that have established strategic aims for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and that are ready to use their collections and the funding to support social and climate justice, in ways that are relevant to local contexts and relationships.
• Partnership project grants to museums and community organisations that work equitably together and share aims for DEI, and which have ambitious and compelling ideas for inclusive project work with collections.

Grants of between £40,000 and £100,000 are available over a period of up to three years. Applications are open to all Museums Association institutional member museums and galleries in the UK.

Applications can be made for core and project funding. The fund has a twin focus on inclusion and collections. It is anticipated that this will result in work that explores and influences key themes in social and climate justice, such as wellbeing, decolonisation, climate crisis, antiracism and others.

There is a two-stage application process:

• From February 2026 onwards, interested applicants can contact the MA to discuss their ideas.
• Applicants then submit an Expression of Interest form by the deadline of 22 July 2026.
• Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a second-stage application by 4 November 2026.
• Grants for this round to be awarded mid-December 2026.